


The Pink Umbrella

by skullpen



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, College AU, Hot Drinks, Kissing, M/M, Messy Apartments, Nonbinary Character, One Shot, Rainy Days, Sharing Clothes, Sharing a Bed, Thunderstorms, Umbrellas, a very pink hanamaki, bed sharing, hanamaki confuses him a lot, matsukawa's pov, maybe a bit over the top but it works, nonbinary Hanamaki, umbrella sharing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-28
Updated: 2017-11-28
Packaged: 2019-02-08 03:51:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,353
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12856146
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/skullpen/pseuds/skullpen
Summary: Matsukawa is caught in a terrible rainstorm. He meets a very pink stranger and is thoroughly entranced by them and their peculiar habits, that in effort to learn more about them, he unknowingly develops a bit of a crush. But why does he only run into them when it's raining?





	The Pink Umbrella

The first time Matsukawa saw Hanamaki he hadn’t known it was them. All he saw was an annoyingly pink umbrella bobbing along through the crowd on the opposite side of the street from his bus stop. He hadn’t thought much of it at the time.

A few days later, during a heavily overcast day, Matsukawa spotted Hanamaki when he was ordering coffee. Hanamaki was seated in the back of the cafe, facing the large windows and clacking away on their laptop. What first caught his attention, was the vibrant pink hair and the slight bob of their head to some unheard tune. They were so absorbed in their own little world, Matsukawa thought it was cute. But he hadn’t stayed long, his coffee was ready and he had to get to class.

Weeks passed before Matsukawa ever saw Hanamaki again.

\------

He had been caught in a rain storm. Before class it had been sunny and clear. Then, after class it had been overcast and Matsukawa had mistakenly thought he would have made it home before the rain hit. But it started pouring a few minutes in and Matsukawa took cover underneath a closed store awning, a little less than soaked. He shook his hair, flinging droplets everywhere.

It had been late, around eight, maybe. Matsukawa checked his phone, eight twenty-one to be exact. The sky was dark and grumbled with thunder, a slight wind sprinkled rain onto his shoes. Matsukawa sighed and considered his options. One, staying under the outcrop until the storm passed. Two, making a run for it, and risk coming down with a cold. Or three, calling some unfortunate soul to come save him. Option three was rejected immediately, he hated bothering others. He checked his phone, pulling up the weather radar. Oh my. That was indeed a big storm. Estimated to stop around….. Midnight. Great.

Matsukawa sighed heavily and mentally prepared himself to run out into the downpour.

“Need some help?” a voice asked from behind, scaring him. Turning around Matsukawa was met with a barrage of pink. Pink umbrella, pink hair, pink sweater, and pink rainboots all very vivid, and would’ve blinded someone if it had been sunny out.

Matsukawa tore his eyes away from the pink rainboot and focused back on the stranger's face. They were of a similar height and build that as him, maybe a few inches shorter. They looked bored, with beady eyes that seemed to look right through him. If it hadn’t been for the pink, they would’ve looked very intimidating. _Scratch that, they were still pretty intimidating._ Yet, he had the feeling that he had seen them somewhere before. “Uh, if you are going the same way, then it would be appreciated,” Matsukawa responded. He wouldn’t have wanted to inconvenience them.

“You’re going that way, right?” They pointed down the street Matsukawa had been preparing to run down.

“Yeah.”

“You can share my umbrella then,” they offered, lifting it up slightly, as if that somehow made it larger. The umbrella really wasn’t meant for two people, especially two people of their size, but it was better than being drenched. Matsukawa squeezed as much of himself as he could under the umbrella without bumping into the peculiar stranger, which resulted in his right arm slowly becoming soaked. Under the umbrella, he noticed a faint sweet smell, like that of a bakery. It only added to the strangeness of the person

“Thanks,” he said.

“It’s no problem,” they responded and started walking.

They walked in silence. Matsukawa found it incredibly awkward but the other person gave no sign of starting a conversation. He mentally raked his brain for something he could say without coming off as rude, but most of his comments centered around the strangers fondness of pink. Before he settled on something the stranger spoke out of the blue.

“Where are you headed to?”

“Home.” _Wouldn’t that be obvious?_ He struggled to imagine anyone willingly venturing out in this nasty weather.

“I mean, give me the directions to get there,” they said with a little huff. Were they annoyed or amused? Matsukawa worried about which one it was.

“Oh, sorry, four more blocks this way, right for two blocks, and then left for six blocks. But if you need to break off somewhere I can run the rest of the way back.”

“It’s fine, I can walk you there,” they assured him with a small smile.

“Oh… Okay.”

Silence again. Silence until they reached the front door of his apartment building.

Before he had a chance to thank the stranger, they spoke up again. “I’m Hanamaki.”

“...Nice to met you, I’m Matsukawa.”

They produced a piece of paper from inside their pants pocket and held it out to Matsukawa. “If you ever get caught in the rain again, give me call.”

“Okay?”

Without waiting, they turned and strode off the way they had came. Matsukawa examined the paper, all it had was a phone number on it and nothing else. He shoved the paper into his pocket and went inside. _What a strange person._

\------

Matsukawa had forgotten about Hanamaki as he moved on with his normal day to day life. His classes kept him busy most of the time, then on top of that he went out with friends every other night while the weather was still nice. To say the least, he thought that he wouldn’t see them again.

That was when he suddenly ran into them while picking up groceries. It was raining and Matsukawa held his own plain black umbrella over his head, spinning it gently. Hanamaki turned around the corner in front of him sporting the same pink umbrella. As soon as they saw him, they waved and waited for him to reach the corner. He stopped right before the two umbrellas bumped together.

“Looks like you don’t need saving this time,” they said with a smirk.

Matsukawa was surprised by how friendly they were being, but he preferred that to the near silent treatment he had received before. “I only forgot it the one time,” he said jokingly.

“Where are you headed?” they asked conversationally.

“Just to the store, figured I would walk there,” he responded.

“Would you mind if I accompanied you there?” they asked.

Matsukawa raised an eyebrow. He had not expected that, but it wouldn’t have bothered him. “Not at all.” They started towards the store together. Unlike his last time, Hanamaki was rather talkative.

“You’re a student, right?” they asked.

“Yup, at R university. What about you?”

“I’m at S university. What are you studying?”

“It’s fairly boring, but ceramics with a minor in philosophy.” He loved ceramics, the whole process was calming and helped relieve stress. Stress that philosophy created when trying to understand a difficult topic, or wrestle with messy translations. Matsukawa enjoyed them both.

“So you’re keeping both your mind and hands busy?”

“I guess you could say that, I like to keep myself occupied.” _Not that I don’t appreciate lazy days too._

There was a long pause as Hanamaki opened their mouth to say something, closed it, then said, “So who would you say your favorite philosopher is?”

Matsukawa thought for a bit before saying, “Descartes, probably, but there’s still some others I need to read too.” The conversation then delved into Descartes ideas which Hanamaki, surprisingly, knew a fair amount about. They credited their knowledge to an enthusiastic teacher from high school. Even if they hadn’t been well read in the area, Hanamaki was easy to talk to and very curious about Matsukawa’s ideas in philosophy.

Before they knew it they had reached the store. Hanamaki lingered so that the conversation drew to a close, before waving goodbye and walking back the way they had came.

Matsukawa thought about their interaction while shopping. Hanamaki was definitely a weird person. They dressed loudly, had question after question loaded, and yet never said much about their own life. It really only made Matsukawa more curious about them but he wasn’t one to pressure information out of others. Next time, Matsukawa hoped he could learn more about them.

He finished shopping and the rain had stopped. He reached into his pocket and felt a small piece of paper, the one Hanamaki had given him. It was crumpled but the number was still legible. He could have sent a text, but he worried over what exactly to say. _Maybe later._ It wasn’t like they were that good of friends already.

\------

Matsukawa thought about messaging Hanamaki more than once, formulating a message in his head but eventually scratched it out and put it off until later. Unexpectedly, Hanamaki found Matsukawa again.

Matsukawa had been resting in a park, taking a nap and enjoying the nice weather. It was very relaxing until he felt a few drops of rain hit his head that made him flinch. He happened to open his eyes right as a pink umbrella came into view.

“I thought you said you don’t forget your umbrella,” said Hanamaki smirking down at Matsukawa.

“I didn’t know it was supposed to rain,” Matsukawa responded, holding his hand up as a signal for some help. Hanamaki pulled him up and he brushed off the grass that clung to his back.

“You should watch the weather more if you’re going to take a nap outside.” They moved so that Matsukawa was under the umbrella with them.

“But it’s so calm and nice out,” he said looking out as the rain started to pick up.

“It’s always the calmest before the storm.”

“Wow, really? Never heard that one before,” Matsukawa said sarcastically.

Hanamaki laughed. It was a pretty ugly laugh, that reminded him of a witch’s cackle, but friendlier. “Need an escort home?” they asked.

“That would be great. Please and thank you.” Off they went, strolling out of the park, and toward Matsukawa’s home. He was a little embarrassed to be caught in this predicament a second time, but running into Hanamaki again thrilled him, more so than he thought it would have. But the reasoning evaded him, and he could only have described it as a happy coincidence that they met again. So far, they only seemed to show up whenever it was raining, Matsukawa found it curious that he had never seen them around whenever it was sunny outside. _Another bullet point under the growing list of weird things about Hanamaki._

As they walked, movies were mentioned and shot them off onto a long discussion centered around their mutually favorite romantic comedy, Princessbride. They were still discussing it when they came up to the front of Matsukawa’s apartment building. There the conversation paused and they both looked at the building.

“Would you like to come up for a hot drink?” Matsukawa offered, hoping to continue their time together.

“You know what. That would be great.” Hanamaki said, closing their umbrella as they stepped under the awning.

Secretly pleased with himself, Matsukawa led them through the building to his apartment. That feeling quickly disappeared when they entered his apartment. It was messy. Dishes needed to be washed, the table was cluttered with papers, receipts, and books, and there were clothes strewn about the floor.

Matsukawa blushed deeply. “I… wasn’t expecting company…” he said as he picked up a couple articles of clothing and tossed them into the bedroom.

Hanamaki chuckled. “I don’t mind. Would you like me to get some water heated while you… clean up?”

Matsukawa nodded and stooped to pick up the rest of the clothes, mentally scolding himself as he held up a pair of old boxers. Lucky for him, Hanamaki was focused on figuring out the kettle and stove top. As fast as he could, he dumped the rest of the clothes in the bedroom and cleaned off the table, relocating objects to the bookshelf and coffee table. As soon as it looked neat enough, he turned to the kitchen, where Hanamaki was standing, silently watching, a smile on their face. Matsukawa avoided eye contact.

“I’m sorry for the mess,” he apologized again.

“I already told you it was no problem, now where are your mugs, I can do this, you still have dishes to clean.” They nodded at the dishes piled by the sink. Although there weren’t many there, it still made Matsukawa embarrassed.

“Mugs are in the leftmost cabinet,” he answered as he went to work cleaning. This was probably the most he had cleaned this month. It wasn’t necessarily because he was lazy, he would be occupied and then things would pile up or be forgotten. He was glad he still managed to pay his bills on time.

“What are you drinking?” Hanamaki appeared next to him, leaning against the counter.

“Oh, uh. Just tea, the green tea, it’s in the cabinet with the mugs, green box. You’re welcome to have anything you’d like.”

“Do you have hot chocolate mix?”

Matsukawa rose an eyebrow. _Strange choice._ “If there is some, it's behind all of the tea, you might have to dig for it.”

“Do you not drink hot chocolate much?” Hanamaki asked, turning back to rummage through the cabinet.

Matsukawa set the last dish on the drying rack and rinsed off his hands. “I only really drink it during the winter time.”

“You know you don’t have to have drinks according to the season, right.” Hanamaki found the mix and dumped two heaping spoonfuls into their mug. Their mug being one of Matsukawa’s earlier works, simple, with a pink glaze and white flecks.

“Don’t you think it is more desirable during the winter? In the summer, it wouldn’t be as appealing,” Matsukawa leaned back against the counter watching as Hanamaki opened up a tea bag for him to put in the other mug. The one they had chosen for him was a more recent work, with varying dark green shades on the outside but the inside was a burning red color. It was one of this favorite mugs and he was very pleased that they had somehow picked it out for him.

Hanamaki snorted. “Is that your philosophy on hot chocolate?”

“I suppose it is.” The kettle whistled and Hanamaki scooped it up. They poured out the drinks and turned to hand Matsukawa his. Matsukawa handed him a clean spoon in exchange.

“I think you are too faithful to the seasons. Hot chocolate is good anytime you are cold and in need of a hot drink, it just so happens that that occurs more in the winter.” They stirred their drink gently, clinking the spoon against the edges of the mug.

“You put up a strong argument, but you aren’t exactly disagreeing with me either.” Matsukawa led them to the table to sit.

“But you know it’s right, “ Hanamaki said, smiling as they took a small sip of their drink. Lightning flashed outside, shining through the large glass door that led to Matsukawa’s small private balcony. They both stared, waiting for the thunder to follow. After a few moments, it rumbled loudly as it passed. There was a moment of silence. “Can we turn off the lights?” Hanamaki asked.

“Sure.” Matsukawa stood and turned off all the lights. That left the lights from the town outside and the digital glow of the kitchen appliances illuminating the room with a soft glow. He sat back down and they listened to the patter of rain, while waiting for the next bolt to flash across the sky. As the silence drew longer, Matsukawa found himself not looking outside, but rather his focus shifted towards Hanamaki. The strange character who was full of mysteries that taunted Matsukawa’s curiosity.

In the dim light, the bright pinks were muted, and weren’t distracting him. As he watched them sip their hot chocolate he pondered. He picked apart all the nonsense theories and tried to figure out who exactly Hanamaki was. But there was too much he hadn’t known, so he ended up letting his mind drift. Instead, he studied the curve of their ear, wondered how soft their hair would be, and thought of how cute they looked, both of their hands wrapped around the mug, and holding it close to their chest. _Did I say cute?_

Hanamaki glanced over and caught Matsukawa staring at them. “Can I help you?” they ask teasingly.

Matsukawa turned red, thankful for the dim lighting. “No, it’s nothing.” He sipped from his drink to avoid speaking. There was an amused snort from Hanamaki, but they hadn’t questioned him further.

“Do you have a favorite horror movie?” Hanamaki asked out of the blue. Matsukawa had to admit that he hadn’t seen many horror movies, which launched into a discussion of all the sub genre’s of horror and which ones were particularly good and other laughably bad. The conversation was dominated by Hanamaki, but Matsukawa enjoyed listening to what they had to say, even if he would never watch any of these movies of his own accord. He was terrified of horror movies. _Not that they would have to know that._

They both had long finished their drinks, and Matsukawa happened to glance at the clock. _Oh, it’s late. Very late._ He waited until Hanamaki finished their current rant on parody horror movies. “Hey, it’s late, do you need to spend the night?”

Hanamaki looked at the clock, surprised by the time it showed. “Oh, wow. No, I need to get back. Thanks for offering though.”

Matsukawa flicked the lights on, causing them both to blink in the harsh light. The mugs were set in the sink and then the two lingered by the entrance.

It was difficult thinking of something to say as Hanamaki was slipping on their rainboots. “Be safe on your way home,” Matsukawa ended up saying awkwardly.

Hanamaki smiled kindly at him. “Of course I will. I hope to see you around.”

“Hopefully, you won’t have to walk me home again,” Matsukawa said, rubbing the back of his neck.

A small laugh escaped from Hanamaki. “It’s not entirely without its charm.”

“But it does leave me quite embarrassed.”

They leaned in close, pressing their hands against Matsukawa’s chest so that he was backed up against the wall, and said in a soft low voice, “You better remember your umbrella then.” With that they turned and walked out the door, leaving Matsukawa flustered and speechless.

\------

Matsukawa caught himself thinking about Hanamaki, again, for the fifth time today. His last interaction with them left quite the impression. He hadn’t been able to stop thinking about that playfully low tone and the fox like expression on their face. The professor snapped at him for daydreaming at the wheel. The result had been a rather sad looking bowl, that he collapsed and was forced to rework. To drown his thoughts, he turned up his music and focused on his wheel. He successfully finished class without drawing the professor’s attention again.

Matsukawa hadn’t seen Hanamaki for a solid week. He lingered around spots he thought Hanamaki passed by, but they never appeared. He even sent a few texts to try and get a hold of them, but there was no reply. It was like they never existed.

Days later, when Matsukawa started doubting Hanamaki’s existence, it rained. Then there was Hanamaki stood in the middle of the park, with their bright pink umbrella. Matsukawa froze, and watched them from a distance, at first thinking that he was hallucinating. Hanamaki turned and spotted him and waved. He waved back and suddenly they were skipping towards him.

They splashed in front of him with a big smile. “Hey!”

“Hey, what’s up?” Matsukawa asked. It was hard not to smile along with Hanamaki, even though moments ago he was shocked still.

“Not much just enjoying the rain, what’s up with you?” Hanamaki beamed, like they were emitting their own light.

Matsukawa shrugged, “Not much.” It wasn’t like he had the most exciting life ever, so there wasn’t much to be shared.

“Want to go for a walk?” Hanamaki gestured towards the path that looped it’s way through the park.

“Sure”

They walked along the path, side by side, umbrellas bumping into each other occasionally. Hanamaki spewed conversation, as if they had been bottling up everything they wanted to say and had to pour it all out right that second. Matsukawa listened. He wasn’t bothered that they were talking more than him. Listening to Hanamaki was nice, and also assured him that they really weren’t someone he had made up.

But there was something odd about Hanamaki. Despite their excited attitude and conversation, Matsukawa noticed dark circles under their eyes, their shoulders appeared to sag a little, they didn’t stand as straight.

Matsukawa must have showed his concern on his face because when Hanamaki glanced over they trailed off mid-rant. “Is something bothering you?”

“Oh, Well… Are _you_ okay? You don’t look so well?” Matsukawa asked, reaching out. He cupped Hanamaki’s face and lightly rubbed his thumb under their eye.

There was a split second where they both stared at each other, until Matsukawa realized what he was doing and quickly pulled back his hand. A blush burst forth on Hanamaki’s cheeks and they turned forward again, eyeing the ground.

“I’m alright. I’ve just been working a bit too much,” they answered quietly.

“Take a break sometime?” he urged, hoping that he wasn’t sounding like a parent.

Hanamaki gave a half-hearted laugh. “What do you think I’m doing now?”

“Your break is to go for a walk in the rain?”

“It’s nice isn’t it?” They looked blissfully out at the rain sprinkling across the pond next to the path.

Matsukawa couldn’t have denied that. “What about catching up on sleep?”

“That’s after I have a big hearty dinner!” they said boastfully, showing more energy again.

“... Care for a companion?” he asked carefully, not wanting to have invited himself along when he wasn’t wanted.

Hanamaki seemed to be thinking deeply about Matsukawa’s suggestion. It took them long enough that Matsukawa was starting to worry that he had overstepped and Hanamaki was actually just thinking of a way to turn him down. Finally they shrugged, “Doesn’t matter to me.”

They finished their loop around the park and headed off towards Hanamaki’s choice of dinner. It was nowhere fancy, but the food was delicious and they probably spent more time stuffing their faces than actually talking. Matsukawa regretted that as soon as they were on their way out.

“Alright, I better hit the hay,” Hanamaki yawned.

Matsukawa tried not to seem disappointed, “Can we hang out again sometime soon?”

Hanamaki rubbed the back of their head sheepishly, “I actually don’t know when I’ll be free.”

“Oh, alright… Can you… Can you at least text me?”

“I can try, but no promises. I’ll see ya around, alright?” Hanamaki started walking away, waving.

“Okay. See ya. Sleep well,” Matsukawa waved back, giving a smile as they left. Internally he felt troubled. He couldn’t help that he wanted to spend more time with Hanamaki, but whatever Hanamaki was doing all the time clearly wouldn’t have allowed them to meet often, except for on rainy days. _What in the world could they be doing that they only could have free time on rainy days?_ Matsukawa couldn’t think of anything the entire way home. When he stepped through the front door, his phone vibrated.

Oh, a text. A text from Hanamaki! They just got home, and thanked him for hanging out. His phone vibrated again. They were, as so expertly expressed in the text, going the fuck to sleep.

Matsukawa couldn’t have helped but smile and quickly sent a goodnight text before Hanamaki passed out.

\------

Hanamaki was a busy person. They were texting now, but only ever a few messages at a time, usually late at night until one of them passed out. Mostly it happened to be small talk, but it was better than before. Better than waiting for a chance meeting in the rain. But Matsukawa had quickly found the pattern. Whenever it rained, Hanamaki could hang out. Matsukawa watched the weather everyday, scowling at the week long sunny forecasts and the quick overnight rain storms. He would be embarrassed to admit it, but he also looked up rain rituals and performed a few of them, with no luck.

But there were a few times, when the weather favored him and he hung out with Hanamaki again. He tried to drag out their time together. They took the longest route home, ate slower than normal, paused to enjoy the rain. If Hanamaki had known what he was doing, they never mentioned it. Sometimes, they were the one who took the longest to finish off their drink, or pull away from a conversation. _Just a little bit longer._ A little bit longer watching them smile. A little bit longer hearing them talk. It was only small things, but Matsukawa desperately wanted to squeeze out as much time as possible, always dreading the inevitable “see you later” as they both hesitated to walk away.

He tried to ask why Hanamaki was so busy but they responded with, “You must be a level 6 friend to unlock that information.”

“What level am I at now?”

“Hmmmm… Probably level 5.”

“I better start earning more friendship points then.” They laughed about it, but he couldn’t have helped but wonder. Secretly cursing it for it’s demanding schedule. It always left him wondering when he would see Hanamaki next. It was always a surprise.

\------

The phone rung in the middle of the night. Matsukawa clumsily grabbed it and squinted at the screen. Hanamaki was calling? He answered and spoke groggily, “Hello?”

“Hey, Matsukawa, you won’t believe the predicament I’m in.” Hanamaki’s voice rung loud and clear, in a sarcastic but cheery sort of way.

Matsukawa hadn’t been able to understand what they were getting at. “Wha? What do you mean?”

“I forgot my umbrella.” As if timed perfectly, thunder shook the entire apartment building.

Matsukawa registered the pounding of rain outside and the angry rumbling skies. “Shit,” he said, fully awake.

“Yup! Exactly! Do you think you could help me out?” Matsukawa was already pulling on clothes as they spoke.

“Yeah, just let me get some clothes on,” he said, turning on speakerphone as he pulled on a shirt.

“Oh, Matsukawa, I didn’t know you slept in the nude.” Hanamaki chirped, sounding scandalized.

He had to stop himself from laughing. “Now don’t go having any dirty thoughts.”

“You’re too late for that. I’m already soaking wet here.”

Matsukawa laughed loudly. “Tell me where you are, I’m on my way.”

Hanamaki gave him the address and they talked while he made his way to them. The storm was harsh and even with the rainboots and umbrella a good portion of his pants were thoroughly soaked by the time he reached where Hanamaki had taken cover.

“My savior,” Hanamaki pretended to swoon when Matsukawa arrived.

“At your service,” Matsukawa half bowed, stepping out of the rain as well. “This storm is pretty rough, do you think we should wait it out a bit before heading out into it again?”

“Matsukawa, look at me.” Matsukawa looked at them. They hadn’t been lying when they said they were soaked. Their jacket and jeans were drenched, and the only dry thing on them was their very expensive looking shoulder bag, that appeared to be waterproof. “I just want to get home to take a hot shower. I’m already mostly soaked, lets just go.”

“You could’ve made a run for it?” Matsukawa held up the umbrella and they started off, angling it so that there was less rain blowing on them.

“I’m crazy, but not that crazy.”

Hanamaki lead them to their house. This was the first time Matsukawa had ever gone to their place, he hadn’t even realized it until they stood at the front door of the building. He lingered behind Hanamaki as they pulled out their keys.

“Uh, you good now? Do you need any more help?” he awkwardly asked, kicking at a forming puddle.

Hanamaki turned to look at him, dragging their eyes up and down his body. “Why don’t you come in and dry off? No need to leave while the storm is still raging.”

Internally relieved, Matsukawa followed Hanamaki up to their apartment. It was similar to Matsukawa’s but a complete mess. Words couldn’t have expressed how big of a mess it was. Papers were everywhere. The dining table had been moved so that one end was right in front of the couch. There was only one clear spot on the couch, pretty telling of where Hanamaki sat, and a small square of space on the table, which Matsukawa figured was where the laptop sat. Besides those two places, everything else was covered in books, paper, dishes, just everything seemed to be piled onto every surface possible and then even in some spots on the floor around the table and couch.

“Sorry for the mess, let’s get some hot water started,” Hanamaki dropped their bag next to the couch and headed to the kitchen, leaving a trail of water droplets behind them.

“And I thought my place was bad,” Matsukawa snorted, following them.

“It’s not usually like this,” Hanamaki said defensively, filling a kettle with water. They shivered while standing there.

Matsukawa took the kettle from their hands and set it down on the stove top, “How about you go take that shower, I can watch the kettle.”

Hanamaki nodded. “That would be great.” Before they had left the kitchen, they paused and looked down at Matsukawa’s semi soaked pants. “I’ll grab you some dry pants to wear too.” Matsukawa listened as there was some shuffling around from another room and soon Hanamaki returned with some sweatpants.

“Thanks.”

“No problem.” They left again and Matsukawa started to unbutton his pants when he heard that they stopped and dashed back, popping their head through the doorway. “I only have hot chocolate mix, I hope you don’t mind.”

“That’s fine. Go shower.” They disappeared again and Matsukawa heard the door close and the water start to run. Then he shed his wet pants and slipped on the sweats. They were very comfortable, and Matsukawa wondered why he didn’t wear sweats more often.

Since waiting for the water to boil was pretty boring, Matsukawa wandered around the kitchen. There were a series of scrawled reminders tacked up on the fridge in some bad handwriting that had to belong to Hanamaki. Matsukawa couldn’t have figured out what any of them said; one looked like a grocery list. Moving on from the kitchen, he wandered out into the living room, where the biggest mess resided. Upon closer inspection, it looked to be some kind of research. Scientific research. The longer Matsukawa stared at it the more his head hurt. There was a lot of math and equations scrawled in that illegible handwriting that only made it harder to figure out what was even being studied. Matsukawa scanned through all the documents laying on top careful not to disturb anything, and spotted a typed up piece of paper. Nudging the overlaying papers to the side, he saw it was from an up and coming solar power plant. He wasn’t able to read much more before the kettle started to whistle.

He turned off the burner and realized he didn’t know where anything was kept. After opening a few cabinets, he found the mugs, an entire cabinet full of mugs. There were some very weird mugs and he picked out a mug with the thick bushy mustache for himself, and a mug that looked like a cat foot for Hanamaki. A bit more exploring and he found the hot chocolate mix and silverware drawer. He was dumping some of the mix into his mug when Hanamaki appeared.

“Nice choice,” they said looking at the mugs Matsukawa had set out. Matsukawa looked up at them and coughed in surprise. They weren’t wearing a shirt and just had a towel around their shoulders and some loose pajama pants on. He hadn’t expected them to be walking around shirtless, and he probably shouldn’t have felt so weird about it. But Hanamaki’s skin was so pale and they had such a nice figure that Matsukawa knew he would end up staring if he looked at them.

“Aren’t you cold?” he said, handing the spoon to them and avoiding eye contact as a blush rose to his cheeks.

Hanamaki scooped a lot more of the mix into their cup. “No?” they answered, then watched as Matsukawa pretended to busy himself pouring the hot water into their cups. “Would you like me to put a shirt on?”

“It’s whatever you want to do, it’s your place,” Matsukawa said awkwardly, noisily mixing his drink.

Hanamaki chuckled. “I’ll be right back, stir my drink too.” They left again. Matsukawa sighed with relief, giving the drinks a furious swirl. He hated being so embarrassed and obviously awkward. It made him want to leave immediately.

Hanamaki reappeared with a loose fitting shirt and inspected their drink. “I’m sorry,” Matsukawa mumbled, sipping on his own drink, and burning himself.

“Sorry about what?”

“Being awkward.” The embarrassed blush was refusing to go away and he felt like his whole face was burning up.

Hanamaki smiled into their own cup, “Don’t worry about it.”

Silence fell over the room, and Matsukawa quickly tried to come up with something to say, and remembered the research on the table in the other room. “So… what are you working on in there?” he gestured towards the living room.

“Some research,” Hanamaki said curtly.

“...About what? I saw something from a solar power plant, is that related?” Matsukawa pressed the topic, curiosity and the need to dissolve the mood earlier getting the better of him.

“You were snooping through my stuff?” Hanamaki said, a bit surprised.

Matsukawa studied the ground, “Just looking around while the water was boiling, not that I could figure any of it out between the math and handwriting.”

That made Hanamaki laugh. “My handwriting is pretty bad.”

Hanamaki avoided in the real question. “And your research?”

“...I don’t like to talk about it.”

“Why not?”

Hanamaki sighed heavily. “You wanna hear the whole speal?”

“I _am_ quite curious.”

“I got roped into this stupid internship with this solar energy company and they have basically pushed all of their busy work on me. So every day the sun is shining, I am the one who has to do all the leg work and fill out all the data sheets that takes forever, while they sit back and talk all day. Like it’s a good company, but I’m just an astronomy major, so it’s different,” Hanamaki vented.

“Shit. How’d you even get stucked into this gig?”

“It’s because it’s one of my father’s friends and they heard I was majoring in science and contacted me. I thought it would be easy to use for my intern requirement, but this is too much and I’m stuck with it until the end of the semester.”

“That long?” Hanamaki nodded. “...And only on rainy days you don’t have to work?”

Hanamaki snorted. “Can’t enter data if there’s no data to begin with.”

“This is actually really nice to hear,” Matsukawa admitted.

Hanamaki knitted their brows in confusion. “It is?”

“You see, before, I only ever met you when it was raining, and then you essentially didn’t exist when it was sunny, and for a while there I was starting to think you were some kind of spirit.”

Hanamaki nearly choked on their drink. “Are you serious?”

“The excessive amount of pink you wear did not help either.”

Hanamaki laughed. “Pink is a nice color though.”

“You wear it very well.” Matsukawa reached up and stroked a short tuft of Hanamaki’s hair. Then immediately realized what he was doing and quickly pulled his hand away. He took a sip of hot chocolate, hoping he masked his reappearing blush.

Hanamaki smiled at him, their cheeks slowly turned pink as well. “You just can’t control yourself can you?”

“I’m sorry.” He just had to have made things awkward again, and right when they had started conversing normally again. He glanced at the digital clock on the stove. “It’s late, do you want me to leave?” He set his empty mug in the sink.

Hanamaki was thinking and dragged the silence out to an uncomfortable length. “The storm is still pretty strong, you don’t have to leave yet.”

“I’ll have to go sometime.”

“Well… you could… you could spend the night. If you want.” Hanamaki stared into their mug, swirling the last bit of hot chocolate around.

Matsukawa heard his heart pounding in his chest. _Did they really want me to sleep over?_ “Where would I sleep?”

“There’s the couch, but we would have to clear it off, and it’s pretty small,” Hanamaki said, and then in a softer voice added, “Or you could share my bed.” Their cheeks turned cherry red.

He was sure his cheeks were just as red as theirs. “Are you sure?”

“Yeah.” They glanced over at him, looking nervous.

“Then the bed would be preferable.”

Hanamaki nodded and finished their drink. “Here, this way.” They led him to the bedroom. It was still pretty messy, but this time with clothes instead of paper and books. The bed was unmade but pretty big, bigger than the one he had. “Which side would you prefer.”

“I don’t really have a preference,” Matsukawa said walking over to the window and peeking outside. Just as Hanamaki had mentioned before, the storm was still strong.

“I’ll use the bathroom first then.” Matsukawa nodded and Hanamaki left. He stood awkwardly in the room, not knowing what to do. _What would come next? Would anything happen?_ He worried himself as he glanced around the room. Hanamaki sure had some interesting tastes, as he noted the pastry themed calendar hanging above the messy desk.

Hanamaki came back and Matsukawa took his turn. When he returned, Hanamaki was seated on the right side of the bed, so he went to the left. There was an awkward silence between them as they laid there.

“What kind of spirit would wear this much pink?” Hanamaki said, speaking up into the air.

Matsukawa snorted. “I don’t know. I’m not very well read on spirits, but don’t you think it would be the kind of thing something that wanted to blend in, but was very bad at it, would do?”

“You have a good point there.” Their conversation continued easily, as they transversed across many different topics and talked well into the night, until they were both yawning and struggling to keep their eyes open. They fell asleep facing each other.

\------

Matsukawa was woken up by something rustling in his arms. Blinking away the blurriness, he saw Hanamaki sitting up next to him and a cold chill settled against his chest where something warm used to be. Not completely awake, he rubbed his eyes, as Hanamaki cursed and threw back the blanket.

“What’s happening?” Matsukawa asked sleepily, propping himself up onto his elbows.

“I’m late. I’m very late. I’ve got to leave like… now. You’re welcome to eat anything in the kitchen,” Hanamaki talked quickly as they switched out of their pajamas and dashed to the bathroom. Matsukawa sat up and pulled the blanket up around him, still yawning. Early morning light streamed around the blinds throwing bars of light on the ground. The clock showed that it was only eight in the morning. Matsukawa didn’t have anything to do today, and he felt bad for keeping Hanamaki up so late.

Hanamaki rushed back into the room, grabbing a warm jacket. “I’m heading out. Sorry for leaving in a rush. Text me?” they said hurriedly as they struggled with their jacket.

Matsukawa watched in amusement. “I will, don’t worry.”

“Sweet. Later.” They leaned across the bed and placed a quick kiss against Matsukawa’s temple before bolting out the door. The front door closed mere seconds later, but Matsukawa was frozen in place. He slowly brought his hand up to where they had kissed. A fiery blush bloomed across his cheeks and he pressed his face into the blankets. _Why did they have to leave so soon._

Once he had calmed down, he got out of the bed, taking his time getting ready. He discovered that Hanamaki’s love of pink was quite apparent everywhere in their apartment, from their toothbrush, to their dinner plates. Matsukawa considered taking up their offer of food, but their fridge had a concerning lack of food in it. Eating on the way home seemed to have been the best option. He opened the door and a strong cold gust blew through him and he slammed it closed again. He needed something warmer. _Hanamaki wouldn’t mind if he borrowed something would they?_ He sent a text just to be safe and grabbed a random jacket, which happened to be pink as well. As he pulled it on, the familiar scent of a bakery arose strongly from the jacket. Matsukawa pressed the sleeve up against his nose, it was very sweet. On the way home, he stopped and picked up some breakfast. At home, he ended up passing out on his bed, nose buried in the borrowed jacket.

\------

Matsukawa was reluctant to admit it, but he ended up wearing that jacket more than once around the house, pressing his nose into it because of it’s sweet smell. It was easy to miss Hanamaki’s natural conversations and jokes and their cute smile. He cursed the sunny weather as the semester started to approach the end. He had hoped for a few more meetings before the semester ended.

Finally, a rainy day was predicted but Matsukawa has class. He passively listened, spending more time staring out the window instead, as the professor ended up on a dull tangent. Class dragged on seemingly forever and Matsukawa nearly passed out during the last ten minutes. Just as the professor dismissed the class Matsukawa spotted a flash of pink down the street.

He had never left a class faster, dashing down the hallway to the nearest exit. Spotting the familiar umbrella in the distance, he ran towards it as rain pelted down on him. Hanamaki saw him and stopped to wait for him to catch up. They covered their mouth as they chuckled, “Forget your umbrella again?”

This was it, he had to do it now. Matsukawa took a deep breath and looked them squarely in the eye. “Hanamaki, I like you. I like you a lot.”

Hanamaki stopped laughing and looked at him with wide eyes. “Like as in….?” they trailed off as Matsukawa nodded. “Oh.” Then they started to laugh.

“What’s so funny?” Matsukawa asked, deflating from his confident posture. He was confused and starting to feel a little hurt. He was not going to be rejected, was he?

Hanamaki took a moment to calm down and beckoned him over. “Come here, you’re getting soaked.” He hadn’t even noticed the rain and stepped under the umbrella, closer to Hanamaki, feeling his heart beat wildly. “You’re a mess,” they said, leaning over and quickly kissed Matsukawa on the lips. A blush immediately burst on his face and he wiped his head around to see if anyone was watching. “I can’t believe you ran through the rain just to confess to me.” Hanamaki hadn’t moved away, and stood close to him, their chest practically touching with the umbrella stuck between them.

Matsukawa looked away. “I wasn’t sure when I’d get another chance. With your internship and all.” He had really struggled, but he couldn’t have kept it to himself any longer, not that he had been doing a good job of that anyways.

Hanamaki nodded. “I’ll be done with it at the end of the semester.”

“It’s going to be weird seeing you when it’s sunny out,” he smirked.

They laughed. “Are you busy right now?”

“No.”

“Come over?”

“Okay.” They walked quietly along, close enough that their arms brushed against each other. “I love you,” he said quietly, still blushing.

“I love you too,” they replied.

**Author's Note:**

> Will I ever stop writing MatsuHana one shots? No probably never. When an idea strikes, I gotta write it! Even if it is as ridiculous as this.  
> I hope you all enjoy this fluffy piece, I just love making them fall in love.


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